Card- and paper-handling apparatus

ABSTRACT

A card feed mechanism employs a carriage on which is supported a tray from which may be picked off one-by-one from a stack by pickoff means at one end of the tray. The carriage itself is urged with constant force by spring means toward the pickoff means. Feed means movably supported on the carriage moves toward the pickoff means to hold pressure on the stack at all times as the stack grows smaller. As this feed means moves forward the spring means allows the carriage to move backward to keep the pressure constant at the pickoff means. When the carriage reaches a certain position on the frame a switch in the circuit of the motor driving the feed means is opened until the carriage, under the urging of the spring moves forward again to a predetermined position.

United States Patent 2,191,586 2/1940 Richard;

Primary Examiner-Joseph Wegbreit Attorney-Howson and l-iowson ABSTRACT:A card feed mechanism employs a carriage on which is supported a trayfrom which may be picked off oneby-one from a stack by pickoff means atone end of the tray. The carriage itself is urged with constant force byspring means toward the pickoff means. Feed means movably supported onthe carriage moves toward the pickoff means to hold pressure on thestack at all times as the stack grows smaller. As this feed means movesforward the spring means allows the carriage to move backward to keepthe pressure constant at the pickoff means. When the carriage reaches acertain position on the frame a switch in the circuit of the motordriving the feed means is opened until the carriage, under the urging ofthe spring moves forward again to a predetermined position.

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CARD- AND PAPER-HANDLING APPARATUS This invention relates to a cardandpaper-handling apparatus and more specifically to a mechanism forfeeding, conveying, and sorting cards, preferably in accordance withinformation on the cards examined optically in the course of conveyance.The novel mechanism includes a novel card feed mechanism, a novelpickoff (or conveyor input means), a novel double-card detection system,a novel card-separating conveyor concept, a novel vacuum conveyor, whichaccurately holds cards in position to be examined, and a sorting system,which includes a novel escapement system for lowering platformsautomatically as the cards received on the platform in the course ofsorting fill up the space provided.

The feeding of a stack of cards into appropriate conveyor means has beenthe source of considerable difficulty in the past. If cards are to bepresented in a stack, the conveyor input usually requires that theleading card be presented in a predetermined position and orientationwhen needed, despite the changing size of the stack. Furthermore,variations in the pressure urging the stack forward has resulted insporadic and unpredictable performance and, in some situations, completefailure to operate. The present invention permits cards to be fed to theproperplace and position at a correct time and always at a unifonnpressure.

More specifically, the present invention provides a card feed mechanismfor sequentially feeding individual cards from a stack into a conveyor,including pickofi' means, carriage means, including means for retaininga stack of cards which is supported on the same frame as the conveyorfor movement along a predetermined path toward and away from the cardpickoff means. Coupling means is provided between the carriage and theframe for urging the carriage means with essentially constant force.Feed means is mounted on and movable relative to the carriage. The feedmeans moves generally parallel to the direction of carriage movementsupports and urges a stack of cards on the carriage into the cardpickoff means. Drive means between the carriage and feed means drivesthe feed means toward the card pickoff means in order to maintainpressure on the stack of cards, urging them into the pickoff means.Sensing means is provided to sense the relative position of the carriageand frame. The sensing means acts on means controlling the drive meansto discontinue its drive whenever the carriage moves a predetermineddistance away from the card pickoff means.

A problem in the prior art has been to provide pickoff or conveyor meansfor reliably picking cards one at a time from a stack. A frequentproblem has been the feeding of two or more cards at a time into theconveyor. If a purpose of the conveyor is to permit examination of thecards one at a time, feeding more than one card at a time defeats thispurpose. The present invention provides a conveyor input means fortaking cards from a stack one-by-one into a conveyor which has such highreliability that even when card or paper thicknesses differ from card tocard or paper to paper in a stack, the pickoff means will still selectonly one card or paper at a time. in this connection it should bementioned that although card is used generically throughout thisdescription, it is intended to include either cards or papers, or amixture of cards and papers.

The conveyor card input means of the present invention includes acylindrical drum rotatably mounted relative to the frame about its majoraxis and having a high-friction material around its cylindrical surfaceover at least part of that surface. Feed means on the frame supports andfeeds a stack of cards generally tangentially into the cylindricalsurface of the drum so that the high-friction material will engage onlythe top card adjacent to the drum and pull it from the stack. A hardenedblade movably supported on the frame is urged toward the drum by springmeans between the frame an th lad p means on the frame acts to hold theblade a predetermined distance from the drum surface. That distance isdetermined by the minimum thickness of paper to pass through the spacebetween the drum and the blade and must be less than double thethickness of the minimum thickness paper. If this limitation is observeddouble thicknesses will be stopped by the top card pulled from the stackby the drum will urge the blade away from the drum sufficiently far topermit the card to pass as it is drawn along by the high-frictionmaterial of the drum surface. The card behind said top card, however, isnot subject to the frictional pull of the drum and will be unable toovercome the spring force in order to pass the blade.

Even though the pickoff or conveyor input means is essentially foolproofso that theoretically the opportunity for error is extremely small, itis possible for one card to stick to the back of another so that itpasses for one. Should such a double thickness of cards pass through thepickofi' means for this or any other reason, one of the cards can not beread and will therefore not be properly processed. The present inventionprovides means for detecting double-card thickness should the doublethickness for any reason fail to be separated at the conveyor input.This double-card detector will generate a signal which can be used toactuate a warning light, to shut down the machine, or both.

More specifically, in accordance with the present invention, 7

the double-thickness detector consists of a lever rotatably supported onthe frame. The lever has an arm extending into proximity to a referencesurface over which the cards pass in position to be contacted and movedby any double thickness of cards as they pass between the referencesurface and the lever element. Stop means holds the lever elementagainst rotation toward the reference surface beyond a predeterminedpoint. Spring means normally urges the lever element into said stopmeans but yields to permit movement of the lever when a double thicknessof cards passes between the conveyor reference surface and the lever.Movement of the lever actuates a pair of contacts, at least one of whichis movable relative to the other. The contacts are so arranged relativeto the lever that movements of a magnitude sufiicient to represent adouble-card thickness of cards changes the condition of the switchcontacts to indicate the double thickness.

Some tolerance is necessary in order to make sure that when a variety ofthicknesses of card stock are employed the thickest stock will notactuate the double-card detector. Nevertheless, a limitation on thedevice is that it can obviously not be applied with ranges of cardthickness having a ratio of as much as two to one at the same time. Onthe other hand, adjustment will permit a wide range of thicknesses to beaccommodated. The double-card detector is preferably built to bemanually adjusted to accommodate various thickness ranges. Moreover, inaccordance with the present invention a quick changeover means isprovided for the very common situation where wide discrepancies inranges are involved, as where cards and papers are used at differenttimes and it is desirable to be able to quickly change from apreadjusted thickness range for cards to a prearranged thickness rangefor papers, or vice versa. One such technique, in accordance with thepresent invention is to employ a movable support for one of thecontacts, which in this case are normally open. A preferred movablesupport is a pivoted beam. Stops are provided on each side of the beamto limit movement of the beam to a narrow range between the stops.Manually adjustable means holds the beam selectively against one stop orthe other to provide two switch positions to accommodate differentranges of card thicknesses. Again, in discussing card thicknesses itwill be understood that the term card" is used to mean cards, papers, orother materials having similar handling properties.

In connection with data processing of cards, it is frequently necessaryto have the cards sufficiently spaced between one another as they flowalong the conveyor to enable the processing to occur with easyidentification of each of the cards. Cards which overlap one another, orare too closely spaced to one another, may not be able to be identifiedas separate cards by equipment provided for that purpose. lt thereforebecomes important to provide distinct separation between the cards.Where cards are fed manually into a conveyor there is no problem aboutthis, but where cards are fed automatically, they may tend to be veryclosely spaced to one another, so much so, in fact, that individualidentification by automatic means is frustrated. The present inventionprovides a conveyor system in which distinct separation is accomplishedbetween cards sequentially fed to a conveyor system.

More specifically, the present invention provides such a conveyor systemin which feed means is provided on the support frame for feeding cardssequentially into the conveyor system. At least two successiveconveyors, and preferably more, are supported on the frame such that theprevious conveyor in the direction of flow (i.e., card travel) in eachcase feeds cards directly into the next conveyor. Means is provided fordriving the conveyors at different speeds, such that each subsequentconveyor in the direction of card travel moves cards faster than itsnext previous conveyor.

it is of advantage to have the conveyors driven by a common means sothat despite their different speeds, card position can be predicted bymonitoring the speed at any point, and, for example, generating a clockpulse chain proportional to the speed. How long it will take the cardsto pass through the conveyor system to a point of examination can thenbe predicted by a means to sense when a predetermined part of the cards,such as the leading edge, passes a predetermined point on the conveyorsystem. The positioning and timing information can then be used toactuate optical scanning equipment, or other monitoring equipment forreading or accumulating data from the card.

When data is to be read optically, for example, requiring detailedscanning of symbols on the cards, it may be vital the cards be held in avery precise distance away from the scanner. The present inventionprovides a conveyor which is capable of holding very precisely in aplane the cards, or those portions of the cards which are to beoptically examined, while conveying them along past a scanner, orsimilar means.

More specifically the present invention provides a card guide having aprecision card-carrying surface in which a channel is formed. An endlessmovable conveyor supported to move relative to the same frame whichsupports the card guide travels over a portion of its path within thechannel. The channel is of such dimensions that the exposed surface ofthe conveyor within the channel is essentially flush with the flatsurface of the card guide. A vacuum box is supported by the same frame,is connectable to a source of vacuum, and communicates with the conveyorchannel in the guide along its length such that the card near the cardguide will be drawn against the card guide and conveyor and pulled alongby the conveyor.

Cards carried by the conveyor may be diverted from the conveyor path bygates which are selectively opened or closed. To divert a given card, aselected gate is opened and the card deflected into one of severalcollection bins. In accordance with the present invention, eachcollection bin is provided with a movable platform which starts near thediverter selection gate and is automatically lowered as required to keepthe space between the top card and the selection gate small enough toprevent cocking or misalignment of the cards and to assure neatstacking.

More specifically, in accordance with the present invention, a mechanismis provided for controlled lowering of a platform wherein a flexibleconnector connects the platform to an escapement ratchet. The escapementratchet is rotatably supported on the frame and is provided with atleast one stop tooth, and preferably more. The ratchet has an associatedrotatable portion engaging and permitting corresponding movement of theflexible connector when the ratchet rotates, to thereby permit theplatform to lower. Latch means engages and holds the at least one toothof the ratchet and the platform against movement. This latch means ismovable relative to the frame to release the ratchet to allow theplatform to lower itself by gravity. Means is provided to move the latchbar on command and allow it to return to position to stop a selectedtooth of the ratchet and hold the platform in a selected position.Preferably, the means to move the latch bar is a switch associatedsensing means to sense when cards on the platform approach a preselectedlevel on the frame to avoid interference with the gate. The switch, inturn, energizes a solenoid momentarily to release the latch means fromthe tooth of the ratchet which it is restraining and to allow it toreturn to engage the next ratchet tooth.

It is of advantage to have a standard-type card tray which can be usedinterchangeably at the input or feed end and at the output ordistribution end at each of the diverter selection gates orclassification points. In accordance with the present invention, a trayhas been developed which permits the passage of a feed arm or thecollection platform, depending on which tray location is selected. Thistray presumes certain similarities in design of the feed arm andcollection platform.

More specifically, the tray in accordance with the present invention isprovided with a flat generally rectangular-shaped back wall having shortand long edges. A long wall, generally perpendicular to the backwall isprovided along a long edge of a rectangular back. A first short wallalong one short edge of the rectangular backwall and connected to thelong wall has at least one slot parallel to the back and extending fromthe end remote from the long wall sufficiently far to permit passage ofthe feed means of its associated machine through the short wall as itmoves parallel to the long wall. A second removable short wall can beprovided along the second short edge of the backs. In such case the twoshort walls together enable easier handling of the tray preferably bymeans of oppositely directed handles on each short wall generallyparallel to the back. The removable wall may be latched in place by pinsin holes in the long wall and a latching flange along the opposite longwall of the back, preferably with a spring-engaged retractable pinengaging the latter.

The present invention is described hereinafter in terms of a preferredembodiment which is associated with other inventions in a common system.The other inventions, all by George P. Mclnerny, are described in thefollowing copending US. Pat. applications:

Feed

For a better understanding of the present invention, reference is madeto a preferred embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings in whichFIG. 1 is an elevational view of the machine as viewed from the front;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the machine as viewed from the rear;

FIG. 3 is a much enlarged view of that portion of HO. 1 showing the feedmechanism with the cover on the control box partially broken away toshow the drive means and other structure which it houses in elevation;

FIG. 4 is a similarly enlarged view of that portion of HO. 1 showing thecard feed structure and the double-card detection means, as well asparts of the conveyor system;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line 5-5 in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a view taken from line 6-6 in FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line 7-7 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 8 is a further enlarged sectional view taken along line 8-8 in FIG.7;

FIG. 9 is a sectional view on the scale of FIG. 8 taken along line 9-9in FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is a further enlarged partial view of FIG. 4 showing thedouble-card detector with part of the structure broken away and shown insection;

FIG. 10a is a view similar of part of the structure of FIG. 10 showingaction when more than a single card passes the detector;

FIG. 11 is a view taken along line 11-11 of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is an enlarged portion of FIG. 1 on the scale of FIGS. 3 and 4showing an intermediate portion of the conveyor system;

FIG. 13 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line 13- 13 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 14 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line 14- 14 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 15 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line 15- ]5 in FIG. 1,showing the vacuum conveyor housing;

FIG. 15a is a sectional view taken along line l5a-15a of FIG. 15;

FIG. 16 is an enlarged elevational view showing structure relating tothe selection gates of the conveyor partially in section;

FIG. 17 is a sectional view taken along line 17-17 of FIG. I6;

FIG. 18 is an enlarged plan view of a portion of FIG. 2 showing gatecontrol apparatus;

FIG. 19 is a sectional view taken along line 19-19 of FIG. 16;

FIG. 20 is a sectional view taken along line 20-20 of FIG.

FIG. 21 is an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 2 showing theescapement mechanism structure of the card-stacking platform loweringmechanism;

FIG. 22 is a sectional view taken along line 22-22 of FIG. 21;

FIG. 23 is a sectional view taken along line 23-23 of FIG. 21;

FIG. 24 is a sectional view taken along line 24-24 of FIG. 21;

FIG. 25 is an enlarged plan view from above of a card-handling tray withits removable end wall in place;

FIG. 26 is front elevational view of the card tray of FIG. 25;

FIG. 27 is a view from one end of the card tray taken along line 27-27in FIG. 26, and

FIG. 28 is a view from the other end of the card tray taken along line28-28 in FIG. 26.

The drawings illustrate a preferred embodiment of the present invention,which is capable of taking cards and/or papers of various sizes andthicknesses in a stack, feeding them one-by-one past an optical reader,in which preselected information from the cards or papers is read, and,through logic supplied by electronics, gating into the proper one of aplurality of stacks, in which other documents in the same category arecollected.

The structure of the present invention is mounted on a front deck 10,shown in FIG. I, on a smaller rear deck 12, shown in FIG. 2, or betweenthese two decks. Smaller rear deck 12 is supported from the front deckby a suitable column means which space it from the front deck. In itssupported position rear deck 12 is preferably parallel to and has itsedges located within the bounds of front deck 10 a preselected distance.The combined deck structure is supported on a suitable support structureabove the ground at a convenient level for handling the cards and papersto be sorted by the machine. The decks and support structure togetherprovide a support frame and mechanical reference for the rest of thestructure. The front deck is preferably tilted back at a 30 angle fromthe vertical. Consequently cards and papers supported by surfacesperpendicular to the deck surface tend to slide into and be partiallysupported and held in place by the deck 10 or an interposed surface.However, the drawings show the deck 10 as though it were verticallyoriented and hereafter unless the gravitational effect is considered,the description will treat structure parallel to the deck 10 asvertically oriented and structure perpendicular thereto and havinghorizontal elements as horizontal. Advantageously controls for thesystem, including the electronic logic system for controlling thevarious gates can be placed in chassis in racks on the support structureportion of the frame (not shown) below the deck structure 10.

In accordance with the present invention, a stack of cards or papers 14is placed on edge against the back and a long wall of a generallyrectangular shaped tray 16 which will be described hereafter in greaterdetail. For the sake of simplicity in description, the discussionhereafter will treat the stack 14 as cards, although it will beunderstood that papers, as well as cards can be handled by theapparatus. The tray 16 is loaded onto the apparatus by placing its backagainst a carriage generally designated 18 and its long wall upon asupporting shelf on and generally perpendicular to the carriage. Thecarriage is a generally planar structure paralleling the deck andmovable only linearly in the horizontal direction. In this position afeed mechanism, generally designated 20, driven and controlled bymechanism in control box 22 urges the stack of cards into main drum 24,which has a frictional surface which tends to pull the cards off thestack. Cooperating with the drum 24 to provide a controlled conveyorinput is a pressureplate assembly, generally designated 26, whichordinarily prevents more than one card from being pulled off the stackat a time. If more than one card passes through the pressureplateassembly 26, a double-feed detector, generally designated 28, willdetect that fact and shut down the feed until the fault can becorrected. In this region, guide means 30, which closely conforms to theouter periphery of the drum and the drum 24 itself and holds the cardsinto the drum, completes a first conveyor means. Cards are passed fromthe first conveyor means 24-30 to a second conveyor means 32, and thenceto a third conveyor means, generally designated 34, which carries thecards around a corner from a vertical path of travel into a horizontalpath of travel. In one of these conveyors, means is preferably providedto sense the leading edge of each successive card. The third conveyorpasses the card onto a conveyor means, generally designated 36. Each ofthe first three successive conveyors is faster than the last to effect aseparation between the cards and preferably all conveyors are driven bya common means. Use of a common drive enables anticipation of when anygiven card will reach the optical reader. The fourth conveyor meanscarries a card past at least one optical reader, generally designated38, positioned to read certain information from the cards including atleast classification information. Additional scanners of similar typecan also be included, if desired, at positions 38a and 38b. The fourthconveyor feeds the cards into a fifth conveyor, generally designated 40,which carries the cards past a plurality of similar gates 42a, 42b and420. The separatable deck extension 10 enables deck 10 to be providedwith fewer or additional gates as appropriate in a given installationwithout modifying front deck 10. In the apparatus shown gates 42a and42b may be selectively opened and closed to divert the cards fromconveyor 40 or to allow the conveyor to carry them onto the next gate inaccordance with instructions from the logic responding to informationobtained from the card by the optical reader 38. Gate 420 is the lastgate on this particular deck extension 10 and therefore it is only leftopen so that in the event gates 42a and 42b are both closed the cardwill necessarily be diverted from the conveyor 40 by gate 42c. Cardsdiverted by gates 42a, 42b and 420 are collected in one of the trays16', 16" or 16" which are like one another and like tray 16 and,therefore, interchangeable with one another. Each tray is held inposition by suitable means, such as a pair of pins 44a, 44b or 44c.However, the cards do not fall freely into the trays but instead arecollected on one of the platforms 46a, 46b or 460, each of which is partof one of the stacker assemblies generally designated 48a, 48b and 48c.The card sorting apparatus of FIG. I obviously could have manyvariations with many more sticker assemblies and many more gates to gowith those stacker assemblies. This can be provided by substitution inplace of deck extension 10' of a different extension having the desirednumber of gates and stacker assemblies.

More detailed consideration will now be given, in turn, to each activeportion of the apparatus as illustrated with the understanding that thisis a preferred embodiment capable of substantial variation in each ofits various parts.

CARD FEED The card feed of the present invention is shown in theenlarged views FIGS. 3 and 4, which respectively illustrate theconstant-pressure applying and the card pickoff, conveyor input portionsof the card feed structure shown in the lower right-hand comer ofFIG. 1. It should be recognized, however, that FIGS. 3 and 4 show thefeed means 20 in different positions. In fact, in FIG. 4 the stack ofcards 14 is shown much reduced in size and the feed means 20 iscorrespondingly advanced in position but shown in dot-and-dash lineswhich indicate the feed means is not the same position as illustrated inFIGS. 1 and 3.

The carriage 18 is a rectangular plate which extends parallel to thefront support deck I from within the control box 22 to a positionsomewhat short of the main drum 24. Its rear edge 18a extends within thecontrol box as seen in FIG. 3 and is movable from a rear position shownin dot-and-dash lines against a back stop 52, supported on deck 10, to aposition somewhat to the right of that position shown in full lines inFIG. 3. The carriage preferably has an integral flange 1812 whichprovides a shelf support for the long wall of tray 16 and provides thebearing surface which rests atop three similar rollers 54a, 54b and 54c,which rotate about axes perpendicular to the front deck 10. Thestructure of the rollers may be appreciated by reference to FIG. 7 whichshows roller 54c spaced from deck 10 by a standoff column 53c. Similarstandoff columns are provided for each of the rollers 54a, 54b and 54cand each of these is rigidly fixed to the deck 10 at one end and to aroller support rail 55. The structure thus formed is quite rigid and thecolumns provide tubular bearing support for the shafts supporting therollers. Since the front deck is tilted back at about 30 from thevertical, the main rectangular surface of the carriage also restsagainst rollers 56a and 56b along its top edge and 58a and 58b along itsbottom edge. Each of these four rollers has an axis of rotation in theplane of the front deck, or parallel thereto, and each of the axes isparallel to the others and lies in a vertical plane. The combination ofrollers 54a, 54b and 540, 56a and 56b and 58a and 58b, permitlow-friction linear movement of the carriage in the horizontaldirection. Movement permitted is very small, for reasons which willappear, but it is also quite significant in its importance. The rollers54a, 54b and 540, are partially enclosed by a skirt 60 which is attachedto the shelf flange 18b of carriage l8. Skirt 60 extends downwardlyparallel to deck 10 from flange 18b to which it is attached by a narrowflange and extends back toward deck 10 from a point below the rollers54a, 54b and 54c to provide an enclosure for the rollers.

The feed assembly, generally designated 20, consists of a feed arm 62which, in turn, is divided into flanges 62a, 62b and 620. It is thesefingers which actually bear against and supply pressure to a stack ofcards 14 in a tray 16 on shelf 18b of the carriage 18. FIG. shows thesefingers and also shows some detail about the slide structure to whichthe feed arm is attached and by which it is moved. As seen in FIG. 5,slide 64 is a generally U-shaped member with the U horizontally orientedwith one of its legs 64a serving as the top, the other leg 64b, servingas the bottom, and a narrow piece 640 joining the two legs to the U. Theslide 64, in turn, rides on a split track 66 arranged generallyperpendicular to the front support deck and extending parallel thereto.The track is supported from the carriage at the end adjacent the controlbox on a suitable bracket 68 and at its opposite end as seen in FIG. 4,on a similar bracket 70. Bearing strips 72 are inserted into the slideportions 64a and 64b to ride at widely distributed points both above andbelow the track 66 on the track, in order to reduce friction.

As best seen in FIG. 5, a threaded shaft 74 is located between the splitsections of the track 66. This threaded shaft 74 is advantageously theextended shaft of motor 76, which is mounted on the carriage 18. It canbe geared or otherwise connected to motor 76. Shaft 74 as shown issupported at the motor 76 in the motor bearings. At its opposite end, asseen in FIG. 4, it is supported by a bearing in bracket 70. When thefeed arm assembly 20 is to be driven the motor 76 is energized causingshaft 74 to rotate and engagement of the slide 64 with that shaft causesthe feed arm assembly to move in such direction as to urge the cardstoward the main drum 24. Slide 64 engages the screw drive through alaterally removable threaded nut segment 80 which extends through upperslide wall 64a into the slot between the tracks to engage the threadedshaft 74.

The laterally removable nut 80 is fixed to a finger-operated lever 82 atthe remote end from the finger-operating point, as seen in FIG. 5. Nearthe midpoint of the lever are a pair of tabs 82a downwardly directedfrom each side of the lever and engaging a pivot pin 84 through a block86 fixed to slide 64 in a suitable manner. Block 86 also retains ahelical compression spring 88 within a recess so that the spring 88extends between the slide 64 and the lever 82, in position to urge thereleasable nut 80 into engagement with the threaded shaft 74. Bypressing downwardly on the free end of the lever 82 against the force ofthe spring, the lever is rotated around the pin 84 to release the nut 80from the threaded shaft 74, at which time the slide 64 may be movedfreely along the track 66 to any position desired.

As can be seen from FIG. 3, when a tray 16 is placed onto the shelf 18bthe feed arm assembly 20 must be slid back toward the control box 22 inorder to allow the tray to be placed in the position shown. Thereafter,as viewed in FIG. 3. the slide may again be released and moved laterallyto the right until it engages the card stack 14, as shown in FIG. 3. Inorder to do this it will be appreciated that the fingers 62a, 62b and62c of the feed arm 62 must pass through the tray 16. As previouslydescribed, a support wall is provided along one long edge of thebackwall of the tray. The front of the tray opens for easy access to thecards. In the tray shown in FIG. 3, only the rectangular backwall 16b ofthe tray and the wall along one of the longer edges (providing thebottom support in FIG. 3) are imperforate. One end of the tray ispartially closed by slotted end wall 16c along a short side of therectangular backwall. The other end is open although as seen in FIGS.25-28 a removable wall for handling is preferably provided and will bediscussed later. A strengthening and latching flange 162 is providedalong the long edge at the top of the carriage. The slotted nature ofend wall 160 is seen in FIG. 5 to accommodate the fingers 62a, 62b and62c Flange 16d on wall 16c serves as a handle to facilitate the handlingof the tray. The fingers 62a, 62b and 620 can move through the slots inwall 16c. The feed arm 62 is permitted to contact or almost contact themain drum 24. A positive stop between the feed arm assembly 20 and thefront deck 10 is provided screw 90 threaded through a flange 64d on theslide 64 and engaging the stop shoulder 92 on the front deck 10. Thescrew 90 is adjusted to hold the arm 62 barely out of contact with themain drum 24 when screw 92 contacts stop 90. The screw adjustment ofmember 90 also can allow for a change in tolerance, if necessary, in theevent that a wide thickness range of stock is being handled by theapparatus.

Also shown in FIGS. 4 and 6 is structure which aids in keeping the cards14 properly aligned for feed. Guide plate 94 is rotatably supported onshaft 96, which has a snug telescopic fit with tube 98. Tube 98 isrigidly fixed in position between the front and rear decks l0 and I2.Shaft 96 can be pulled out to adjust the plate 94 at the edge of thecard stack to aid in holding the lateral edges of the cards in properposition. The

size of the guide plate is such that it reaches only the first fewcards. Associated with the guide plate 94 is a roller 100, which acts asa stop to limit fanning" of a stack of cards squeezed at the bottombetween the feed fingers 62a and drum 24. Without the roller 100 cardswould fan out to a point where the front card leans past verticallytoward the drum and portions of the card above the effective bottom areawould contact the drum and impair effective operation. Roller 100 issupported by a radial link 102 from a sturdy pin support 104 anchored inboth front and rear decks l and 12. As seen in FIG. 4 the position ofroller 100 is established by a screw 106 through link 102, the end ofwhich screw bears against the tubular support 98 and acts as a stop forthe lever 102 and its supported roller 100 limiting their approach todrum 24. An adjustment of this screw 106 positions the roller closer toor further away from the card in the stack being fed into the drum 24 asneeded depending on card flexibility. As can be seen in FIG. 6 theroller is here a double-roller structure with similar parts on each sideof link 102 and of sufficient width to be effective over a substantialpart of the width of any cards or papers being fed to the drum 24.

The drum 24 requires pressure of the card stack in order for thefrictional surface of the drum to be effective. Therefore, in order toassure uniform input, it is necessary to provide means to maintainpressure of the cards relatively constant within tolerable narrowlimits. In accordance with the present invention this constant pressureis supplied by spring means urging the carriage 18 toward the drum 24.Since the feed assembly 20 is supported on the carriage 18, spring 108urging the carriage 18 toward the drum 24, as can be seen in FIG. 3,will supply the relatively constant force to urge the carriage towardthe drum when the feed assembly is not being driven and will allow thecarriage to retreat from the drum as necessary when the drive means isfunctioning in order to maintain spring pressure constant. Springbracket 180 is affixed to the carriage to extend backwardly in thedirection away from the drum at the rear edge of the carriage 180. Aspring of coil-tension type is attached between the rear end of thisbracket 18c and an upward extending arm 1100 of a sort of crank lever110 supported on the front deck 10 in a position closer to the drum thanbracket 180. The crank lever is a one-piece sheetmetal member generallyhorizontally oriented and having the arm 1100 to which the spring 108 isattached bent out of the plane of an actuating lever arm 1101;. Thecrank lever 110 is pivotally supported to rotate about a post 112supported on the sidewalls of housing 22. Lever 110b extends through acanted cam slot 114 in the housing. The cam surface acts to hold thelever 110b in selected positions against the action of the spring 108.By adjusting the position of the lever 11% the tension of the spring canbe adjusted within narrow limits to make its effect greater or less.Wider adjustment of the spring tension is accomplished by lengthening orshortening bracket 180, a two-piece structure having slidableinterfitting pieces connected together by a screw. One of the pieces isslotted to permit effective lengthening or shortening of the bracket andthereby increasing or decreasing the tension of the spring accordingly.Whatever the spring force selected, the tension spring 108 tends to urgethe carriage constantly toward the drum 24 with that amount of force.

Cam 114 is provided on the carriage in a position to actuate amicroswitch 116 at some preselected position of the carriage relative tothe front deck. The normally closed contacts microswitch 116 keeps motor76 energized, causing the threaded shaft 74 to rotate and drive the feedarm assembly into the cards. Were the carriage not movable this movementof the feed arm could at times generate additional pressure. Howeversuch additional pressure is immediately relieved by the carriage 18moving backward so that the pressure is constantly maintained at itspredetermined level. Thus the'motor 76 in effect drives the carriageaway from the cards whenever the pressure exceeds the predeterminedlevel. When the car riage moves back to the position in which the cam114 allows the microswitch 116 to open, the motor 76 is deenergized. As

cards are taken from the stack, the carriage then moves forward againunder the urging of the spring 108 until cam 114 permits the contacts ofswitch 116 to close and energize the motor. It will be appreciated bythose skilled in the art that the feed means of the present inventionthereby provides a servosystem for sensing and maintaining at the presetspring tension constant pressure on the cards being fed to the drum 24.

SINGLE-CARD FEED The present invention is arranged to permit only onesheet at a time to be fed into the conveyor system. The structure willfunction even though the sheet thicknesses may vary one from anotherprovided the cards are not stuck together in some way.

Feed is based primarily on the main drum 24, which as seen in FIG. 7 ispreferably a hollow drum 118, having an outer facing 120 of materialwith a high coefficient of friction, such as polyurethane. Othermaterials can be used but polyurethane has proved particularly desirablebecause of good wear propenies. As can be seen in FIG. 4 the drum ispreferably mounted with its axis of rotation slightly above the feedsurface. In one structure having a 5-inch diameter drum the feed levelwas about one-fourth inch lower. In this position the cards tend to besqueezed by the feed means 20 into the drum surface over a shortdistance at least corresponding to the amount of offset of the drumaxis. The pressure applied in this manner is used to generate thefrictional pull by the frictional drum surface on the contacting card.

FIG. 7 also shows that the drum is ball bearing mounted to the front andback decks by a suitable shafi 122. The bearings 124 are preferablylocated within a thick-walled tubular member 126 extending between thefront and rear decks 10 and 12. The shaft is continued on through theback deck and is provided on its back side with a timing pulley 128,which accepts a drive timing belt 130. The same shaft is terminated in aWarner brake 132 which enables stopping of the main drum 24, even if therest of the conveyor system is not stopped. Referring to FIG. 2 it canbe seen that the belt is driven off the double pulley 134. Anothertiming belt 136 extends between the other sheave of double timing pulley134 and another double timing pulley 130. Timing belt 140 extendsbetween the other sheave on pulley 138 and timing pulley 142 on commonmotor 144, which provides drive for all of the conveyors of theapparatus.

Returning to FIGS. 4, 7 and 8, it will be observed that blade 146 ispositioned close spaced to the surface of friction cover 120 of drum 24.The spacing is usually no more than the thickness of the thinnest paperor card to pass through the Space between the blade and the drum. Asbest seen in FIG. 8, the blade 146 is preferably provided with a carbidetip 146a. The blade appears to provide a wedge shape generally radiallydirected toward the drum. The upper surface of the blade is a ramp downwhich the cards move in the course of feeding. If the ramp is too flatit blocks the cards from sliding down; if too steep it tends to allowmultiple cards to jam through. An angle of approximately 45 to thetangent or generally radial direction of movement seems to be nearlyideal. Variations up to 10 either side of this angle providesatisfactory results. However, larger variations beyond this are lessand less satisfactory. The wedge must be kept sharp to be effective andfor this reason it is best to make it a 90 point. Changes in the angleof the bottom of the wedge will not change its effect but as the angleis reduced the wear will occur faster. The blade is guided from above tomaintain its horizontal attitude directed toward an element of thecylindrical drum surface. Guiding is provided by a surface along thefront under edge of housing 148 of general L-shaped cross section havingstrengthening webs transversely interconnecting the parts of the L. Theblade 146 is preferably fixed to a cylindrical core 150 of a ballbushing assembly 152. A bracket 153 for the ball bushing 152 is, inturn, fixed by screws 154 and 156 to the housing 148, on a surfaceparallel to blade direction. Screw 154 is conventional, but screw 1S6passes through and holds an adjustment eccentric bushing which enablesangular adjustment of the bracket 153 about screw 154 and of theposition of the blade 1460 until its leading edge is parallel to thesurface 120 at the drum 24. Core 150 advantageously has a coaxialthreaded shank 150a which passes through a hole in wall 153a of thebracket 153 against which a nut 158 on shank 150a provides a shoulderwhich abuts wall 153a to limit forward motion of the blade 146 towardthe drum facing 120. Adjustment of nut position on shank 150 permitsadjustment of the spacing at rest between tip 146a and drum cover 120.Compression spring 160 between housing 148 and nut 158 urges the blade146 toward the drum until the nut 158 abuts wall 153a. The force of thecompression spring 160 is also adjustable because it abuts the housingin a threaded recess which contains pressure adjusting screw 161 whichis movable toward and away from the spring to increase and decreasespring pressure respectively. Thus the blade is able to move away fromthe position fixed nut 158 against the action of the spring 160. It willreadily do this to permit passage of a single sheet of paper thickerthan the spacing between drum and blade as that paper is pulled along bythe frictional surface 120 of the drum 24. However, a second piece ofpaper not stuck to the first will be held or blocked by the bladebecause the friction between the adjacent pieces of paper is smallcompared to the friction between the first piece of paper and the drumsurface 120. The drum surface is selected with this property in mind,and the larger the difference in frictional effects at the twointerfaces, the better the blade functions to prevent passage of morethan one card at a time.

As can be seen in FIG. 4, the housing 148 is preferably made flush withthe shelf 18b of the carriage in order to avoid a discontinuity in thecardor tray-supporting surface.

Cards fed past the blade 146 are carried on around the drum 24 by thatdrum because of the presence of formed sheet metal guides 162 and 164which hold the cards against the drum. As best seen in FIG. 4 the drumand guides 162 and 164 constitute the first conveyor section. Tominimize friction along this conveyor at the said edge a conveyor spaceplate 166 is interposed between the front deck and each of the firstthree conveyors. The surface of the plate is preferably plated toprovide a low-friction surface which is flat and true as a guide for thecard edges. Guide 162 is fixed to plate 166 and thereby to deck 10.Guide 164 also provides idler rollers 165 rotatably supported on andextending through guide 164 to help lessen friction as the card or paperis transported by drum 24. The guide 164 is hinged by hinge 168 to aframe 170 constituting a part of the second conveyor 32. This hingingpermits the guide 164 to be swung away from the drum so that access maybe had to clear away any card or paper which becomes inadvertentlytrapped between the drum and the guide.

DOUBLE-FEED DETECTOR The guide 162 supports the double thickness feeddetector 28, which is best seen in FIGS. 10, a and 11. In the unlikelyevent that a double thickness of paper is able to pass the blade 1460,it will be detected by the double-feed detector to produce an alarm orstop the drive to permit retrieval of the offending cards.

The double-feed detector is illustrated in FIGS. 10, 10a and 11. Thedetector frame 174 for the double-thickness detector may be mounteddirectly on the guide 162 as here or on the spacer conveyor plate 166 onfront deck 10. The detector frame 174 is rigidly supported and does notmove or change position during operation of the device. The crank lever172 on the other hand tends to rotate around the pin 176 supported inportions of the detector frame 174. As can be understood from FIG. 10,sensing is done by a crank lever 172 which has a hardened tip or surface172a which projects through an opening in the guide 162. A single card14a can pass through the space between the lever 172 and the referencesurface of the drum opposite the tip 172a or will rotate the lever toolittle to produce a signal. A double thickness, on the other hand causesclockwise rotation of the crank lever 172 as viewed in FIGS. 10 and 10a.Arm l72b of crank lever 172 bears against stop pin 178 and holds arm 172a a predetermined minimum distance from the drum. Clockwise rotation oflever 172 causes the other arm 1720 to bear against a plate 180 ofinsulation. Plate 180, in turn, urges resilient spring conductor 182,and its supported contact 182a toward conductor beam 186, which providesthe other contact of a normally open pair. A single card, as seen inFIG. 10, will not make contact 182a complete a circuit to beam 186.However, two cards 14a and 14b stuck together, as seen in FIG. 10a isenough to complete the contact to either activate an alarm circuit orshut down the machine drive until the double thickness is removed.

It will be observed in FIG. 10 that beam 186 is totally supported from aportion of the housing structure 174 at a pivot point 188 parallel topin 176. Beam 186 carries an adjustable threaded stop 190, which acts onpin 178. On the other side of the pivot but the same side of beam 186 ascrew threaded into the frame provides an adjustable stop 192 againstwhich the beam 186 is urged by the toggle lever 194, in the positionshown. Toggle lever 194 is a compound member having a sliding head 194acontacting the beam 186 on the side of pin 188 toward stop 192 andspring urged into the beam to urge the beam into the stop. Stop 192determines the position of beam 186 and its spacing from the contact182a. The absolute position of the beam relative to the frame 174 can beadjusted by stop 192. Such adjustment will not change the spacingbetween contacts as the change in beam position will be reflected in achange of position of lever 172 through pin 178 thus moving contact 182ban amount corresponding to the change in beam position. Spacing ofcontacts can be changed by adjustment screw 190.

As can be seen in FIGS. 10 and 11 the toggle lever 194 is overcenterdevice having a compressing spring 196 which urges the head 194a awayfrom the main body 194 of the lever. This lever construction produces anovercenter toggle device having stable positions into which the levertends to move at the limits of lever movement where spring 196 is leastcompressed and the head 194a lies on one side or the other of pivot pin188. If the lever 194 is switched from the position shown in FIG. 10 tothe other side of the pivot 188, the beam 186 will move againstadjustable stop 198, which is adjustable in and out away from and towardthe beam by manual adjustment knob 200. Stop 198, like the lever 194 isthreaded through the casing 17411 of the housing 174 to enable itsadjustment. Casing 174b encloses the mechanism of the device to keep itfree from dirt and dust and to avoid accidental operation of the device.

In the latter position, with the beam 186 against stop 198, it is clearthat the switch contacts are no further separated, but that tip 172awill not be urged into moving by documents thicker than those whichmoved in the position of FIG. 10 because the contacting surface 1720 inthis position is further from the drum surface 120. Therefore,consequently in this position a greater card thickness can pass withoutclosing the contacts.

From the above discussion it will be appreciated that the toggle lever194 enables an adjustment which, for example, may be used to changequickly from card to paper tolerances, if it is common to run both cardsand paper of fairly standard thickness through the machine. In passing,it will be noted that the toggle lever 194 is inserted as an assemblywith the spring 196 under compression. It is held in place by a cap 202,which permits the passage of the lever 194 through the cap and providesan annular shoulder 202a, which opposes and holds in place a roundedshoulder 194a formed by an enlarged diameter portion of lever 194.

Each of the conveyors 32 and 34 share guide 204 which is of channelform. The rollers are located within the channel and extend throughslots in the guide 204 toward conveyor belts.

The guide 204 is channel shaped to lend rigidity and to enable ease inhandling. The guide 204 and rollers 206 can be moved as a whole awayfrom the conveyor by rotating the whole structure about a pivot 208,seen in FIG. 12, in order to give access to the cards or the card spacebetween the guide and one of the conveyor belts. Since hinge 168 isconnected to guide 204, guide 164 will move away from the drum 24 whenguide 204 is moved. It is preferably opposed by fixed plate sections210a, 210b and 210s in operating position parallel to guide 204, each ofthe sections being fixed to the front deck or conveyor spacer plate 166.The plates 210a, 210k and 210s are slotted to pennit the passage ofnarrow conveyor belts 212 and 214 providing the movable elements,respectively, for conveyors 32 and 34. I

As seen in FIG. 4, conveyor belt 212 passes over pulleys 216 and 218,which rotate in a direction shown by the arrows and beneath an idlerpulley 220. Idler pulley 220, supported on an arm 22, is fixed in aposition between the pulleys 216 and 218 to take slack out of conveyorbelt 212. As seen in FIG. 4, a card leaving the drum 24 is preventedfrom following the drum 24 around by a pair of fingers 226, which extendfrom the guide section 2100 into grooves in the friction surface 120 ofthe main drum 24. These fingers 226 direct the card away from the drumand guide it upwardly between guide 210a and rail 204 until it entersthe nip between the lowermost of the rollers 206 and the conveyor belt212 as it passes around pulley 216. The conveyor belt 212 is made ofmaterial having a high coefficient of friction which tends to engage andcarry a card upwardly past the series of rollers 206, past a photocell228a and ultimately past the last pulley 218.

As seen in FIG. 2, the pulley 218 is mounted on the same shaft as pulley134 and is thereby driven by motor 144 through that pulley 134, belt138,pulley 138, belt 140 and pulley 142.

The conveyor system 34 as seen in FIG. 12 employs pulleys 230 and 232over which pass the conveyor belt 214 which is similar to belt 212.Pulley 232 is larger than pulley 230, and on the order of the size ofmain drum 24, and like the main drum serves to carry a card around thecorner without unduly bending it. Belt 214 is kept taut by idler pulley234, which is from post 238 supported on positionable arm 236 fixed in aselected position between pulleys 230 and 232.

In addition to the straight card guide 204 there is a curved card guidesection 240 which follows the belt 214 as it moves around the pulley232. This guide provides a pair of rollers 242 similar to rollers 206.Opposed to guide 240 is a guide extension 243 having its end curvedcorresponding to the curvature of the pulley 232, extending from the endof fixed guide section 2100 along the side of the pulley. This extensionis similar to the fingers 226 extending from the fixed guide section210a and serves essentially the same card guiding function. At the pointwhere the guide extension 243 is discontinued an extension 246a extendsalong opposed to guide 240. At its end, guide 240 is fixed to the vacuumbox 250 of the fourth conveyor 36, which will be hereafter described.

Drive for the conveyor belt 214 is supplied through pulley 232 (see FIG.12) by way ofa timing pulley 252 on a common shaft but on the oppositeside of decks 10 and 12. As seen in FIG. 2 pulley 252 is driven bytiming belt 254 from a timing pulley 255 of a double-sheaved pulley andalso passes around a tensioning pulley 258. The other sheave 257 ofpulley 256 is driven through belt 260 from double-sheaved pulley 142 onmotor 144. Between the sheaves 256 and 258 is a clutch which is actuatedby control 262 to disengage conveyor 214 from drive motor 142.

As seen in FIG. 12, cards are drawn upwardly by conveyor 34 until theyreach the curved guide 240 and they are directed around the curvedefined by that guide and the conveyor belt 214. Guide 240 directs thecards to conveyor 36 into the nip of the belt 262 and the belt 214.Enough of the rollers 206 and 242 at selected locations are narrowcanted rollers of highfriction material to urge the edges of cards intothe conveyor spacer plate 166 so that all cards will be urged intospacer plate 166 and have their edges aligned by plate 166 by the timethey reach conveyor 36. The belt 262 of conveyor 36 as seen in FIG. 1runs between pulleys 266 and 268 and over a position adjustableintermediate pulley 270, which is used to remove the slack from belt262. Belt 262 passes beneath the vacuum housing 250 in a closelyconforming groove provided therefor in the precision card-carryingsurface of the card guide 248 provided on the lower surface of vacuumhousing 250. The nature of the groove in card guide 248 is best seen inFIG. 15 and its purpose is described in somewhat greater detail below.

The manner in which the belt 262 is driven is seen in FIG. 13. The shaftconnecting the drive pulley 252 to conveyor pulley 230 carries a gear272 within the space between the front and back decks 10 and 12. Meshingwith gear 272 is another gear 274 of the same size mounted on a shaftalso extending between front and back decks 10 and 12 and through backdeck 12 to a pulley 276 and a brake 278 which has its brake elementsupported on the rear deck 12. As is seen in FIG. 2 as well as FIG. 13,pulley 276 drives belt 280, which passes over pulley 282 and positionsadjustable pulley 284. Pulley 282 is on a common shaft with pulley 266for belt 262 (see FIG. 12). As seen in FIG. 13, pulley 282 also shares acommon shaft with gear 284, which meshes with a gear 286, which in turndrives an encoder 288. Encoder 288 is supported on a suitable platformspaced away from the back deck 12. It will be understood by inspectionof FIG. 2 that the gears 272 and 274 function to reverse the directionof drive of drive belt 280 from the direction of other belts and fromthe direction of rotation of drive motor 144. This, in turn, drivesconveyor belt 262 in the opposite direction from belts 212 and 214.

Directions of rotation of conveyors 214 and 262 can be seen in FIG 12from the directional arrows shown on pulley shivs 232 and 266,respectively, by the arrows. The location of conveyor 262 outside of theconveyor loop, instead of inside of the loop as with the otherconveyors, makes rotation in this direction mandatory to continue cardfeed in the same direction. It will be observed that the belt for thenext conveyor 40 (see FIG. 1) is also outside (above) the conveyor loopand driven from another shiv of pulley 268.

The conveyor system has been designed overall with several things inmind. First there is the need for card separation so that cards will bedistinctly separated from one another at the reader 38. Second it isdesirable to employ drive means which enables correct indexing andprediction of when a given card will reach the reader and thereafterwhen it will reach sorting means.

As to card separation, the technique employed is to drive successiveconveyors in the direction of card flow at successively higher speeds.Cards fed into the system at drum 24 tend to follow directly upon oneanother with little or no space between them, but without actuallyoverlapping. In order to read the cards it is necessary to index thematerial to be read relative to certain parts of the card. Preferablylengthwise indexing is done on the leading edge of the card. Suchindexing is accomplished by one or more photocells 2280 (FIG. 4) and228!) (FIG. 12) at a precisely predetermined location along theconveyors so that the flow of cards changes photocell conditiondepending upon whether any part of the cards is opposite from thephotocell. The leading edge of each card will therefore change thephotocell condition precisely when the leading edge reaches thephotocell, which card location information is provided to the systemlocation.

It is also desirable to be able to predict just how long it will takefor a card at a given photocell to reach the reader. In this system theseparate conveyors used to achieve separation complicate the situation.However, the common drive motor 144 assures that the system will allhave a related speed so that, knowing the speed and card location, onecan predict just when a given card will reach a reader and/or selectiongate means. Should slight variation in speed from time to time be aproblem it is possible to provide clock means which regardless of speedvariations determines when the card should be at a predeterminedlocation. This is the function of the en- The conveyor 36 uses vacuum todraw the cards into a precision card-carrying surface of card guide 248a precise distance above the vertically upwardly directed optical reader38. Vacuum is also used in addition to friction of the conveyor belt 262to move the cards along the card guide 248 whose precision card-carryingsurface is composed of a low-friction material. Vacuum is supplied tothe vacuum box 250 by a conduit, including a header 290, as seen inFIGS. 1 and 14. As seen in FIGS. 14 and 2 suitable hose 292 connected toa tubular portion of the header 290 by conventional clamp means passesthrough the front and rear decks l and 12 and along the back of the reardeck 12 supported by suitable brackets. It will be understood that thehose 292 is connected to a conventional vacuum source (not shown).

As seen in FIG. 14, the header communicates with a pair of parallelchannels 250a and 25% in vacuum box 250. FIG. shows a typical crosssection of channels 250a and 250b which extend the length of the vacuumbox. Throughout the length the channels are provided with communicatingslots 29 40 and 294b, connecting the vacuum channels to the edges orsides of the channel for the belt 262. The channel is kept toapproximately the thickness of the belt 262 by a low-friction plate 296,which is not quite the full width of the channel, but is wide enough toprovide a bearing surface for the belt 262, which also does not fill upthe complete width. Within the channel are provided a pair of sidelow-friction face-plates 298a and 298b at opposite edges of thelow-friction plate 296. The side face-plates extend along the channelalong at least the tops of the opposite edges of the belt 262, andterminate at the channels 294a and 294b, respectively. The bottom of thevacuum box 250 provides the card guide 248 along which the cards aremoved while held in place by vacuum. Low friction plates, the sideface-plate 300 and the outer face-plate 302, extend along on each sideof the channel and together provide a precision card-carrying surface.The vacuum along the edges of the belt tends to pull the cards into theprecision card-carrying surface where they lie a precise distance fromthe optical reader.

As seen in FIG. 150 the conveyor belt 262 is a timing belt with periodicnotches at equal intervals along its inside (top) surface. These notches262a mate with corresponding teeth in a heavy timing pulley 268 in orderto give positive drive to the belt and to overcome any tendency to beheld in place by the vacuum of vacuum box 250. The vacuum along theedges of the belt draws the cards to and flat against the precisioncardcarrying surface. Periodic notches, or grooves, 26212 laterallyacross the bottom (outside) of the belt 262 are for the purpose ofpermitting the vacuum to extend across the bottom side of the belt abovethe cards to hold the cards in place. This added vacuum effect alsomoves with the belt and tends to insure that in addition to thefrictional properties of the belt, the vacuum effect seeming to movewith the belt will act upon each card and drag it along. The plates 300and 302 are of low-frictional material in order to insure good slidingover the card-carrying surface as the cards are moved along by the belt.

Beneath the conveyor are a series of spaced pullout trays 248 and 306which are seen in FIG. 1 from the outer edge. These trays are of shallowchannel-shaped form, one downturned sidewall providing a handle 3060, asseen in cross section ofFIG. 15.

The pullout trays 306 and 248 are supported from the front and backdecks 10 and 12 by telescoping support members best seen in FIG. 15. Theouter tubular member 308 is fixed between the decks 10 and 12 and extendforwardly to a point just inside the handle 306a when the tray is in itsclosed position, shown in full lines in FIG. 15. Snugly fitting withineach tubular member 308 is a slide rod 310 which is connected by a screwor suitable means to the handle of the tray 306a. A pair of thesetelescoping guide means are used for each tray and enable the tray to bepulled out as shown in the dashed lines of FIG. 15. The tray is capableof being pulled out beyond the position shown until the back flange 306kstrikes the shoulder provided by snapring 308a. Tray 248 differs fromtrays 306 only in the guide finger 246 on the leading edge of tray 246extending outside of the pulley 232, for the purpose previouslydescribed. By contrast the leading edges of the other trays 306 are bentslightly away from the conveyor belt 262 to catch the leading edges ofcards being conveyed should they tend to droop. The trays all enablelateral removal of cards from the conveyor 36 when the vacuum isreleased by simple lateral withdrawal of the trays.

Just before the last of the pullout trays is an optical reader 38, whichmay be a type described in the US application of James S. Bauer and JohnC. Bouton Ser. No. 19,042, filed Mar. 12, 1970, for Optical CharacterRecognition System and Method, and assigned to the assignee of thepresent invention. This device reads letters, numerals, or symbols at apredetermined location on the cards being fed by the conveyor. After thereading is completed, classification in accordance with the informationread is accomplished by opening one of the three diverter gates 42a,421; or 420, which effectively sort the cards by diverting each into aselected one of three stacks. As earlier explained it is possible tohave more classifications than three, but the mechanical principal isthe same. Furthermore, it is possible to have more than one reader. Forexample, readers may be provided as well in the places designated 38aand 38b.

CARD CLASSIFICATION AND COLLECTION The last conveyor 40 consists of abelt 312 driven by a second sheave on pulley 268 through belt 262 andits previously described connection back to motor 144. The belt pathalong the card-flow conveyor path terminates at its other end at pulley314. Belt 312 rotates in the same direction as belt 262 in order tocontinue movement in the same direction since it is on the same side ofthe card path. Vacuum is no longer necessary to hold the card in aprecision position and friction is relied upon to carry the cardstogether with means described below which hold the cards into the belt.

As seen in FIG. 1 three sturdy narrow platforms 318 are spaced along theconveyor, extending perpendicular to deck extension 10' and generallyhorizontally. As best seen in FIGS. 16 and 17 each of these platforms,in turn, supports a roller 320 which bears on the top of the conveyorbelt 312 to urge it downwardly and hold it in place against anotherroller 313 supported by a suitable bracket from deck 10'. Rollers 313lie between fixed guide plates and movable gate plates. Moving along theconveyor in the direction of card flow are successively a short guideplate 322 with a downturned leading edge which directs cards into theconveyor 40. It should be noted that the platform 318 opposed to guideplate 322 has a downcurved edge along a V-shaped front which tends toaid in directing cards into conveyor 40. The next guide plate 326apivotally supports a forked gate plate which in the closed positionshown has its forked end resting on reduced diameter shoulders onopposite sides of roller 313. Gate plate 324a is movable about itshorizontal pivot into open position against platform 318 and into thenotch provided in that platform. Gate plate 324b hinged to guide plate3261; is shown in FIG. 16 in such open position with its closed positionshown in phantom. Gate plate 324c and guide plate 3260 are similar totheir predecessors. The gate plates 324a, 32% and 324c are hinged attheir following edge so that the leading edge can be moved upwardly asseen in FIG. 16 from the lower closed position of gate plate 324a or thedashed line position of gate plate 3241) to the upward open solid lineposition of gate plate 324b. Each of the platforms 318 is notched sothat in the open gate position the leading edge of the gate plate ishidden behind the notch and only the flat tilted diverting surface ofthe

1. A card feed mechanism for sequentially feeding individual cards froma stack into a conveyor, including a pickoff means, comprising a supportframe supporting the conveyor, carriage means, including means forretaining a stack of cards, supported on said frame for movement along apredetermined path toward and away from the card pickoff means; couplingmeans between the carriage and the frame and urging the carriage towardthe pickoff means with essentially constant force; feed means on andmovable relative to the carriage generally parallel to the direction ofcarriage movement for supporting and urging a stack of cards on thecarriage into the card pickoff urging drive means between the carriageand the feed means for driving the feed means toward the card pickoffmeans to move the feed means to maintain pressure on a stack of cardsurging them into the card pickoff means and, after such pressure hasbeen applied to the cards, driving the carriage away from the cardpickoff means; means sensing the relative position of the carriage andthe frame; and means controlling the drive means in response to thesensing means in order to deactuate the drive means whenever thecarriage moves a predetermined distance away from the card pickoffmeans.
 2. The card feed mechanism of claim 1 in which the coupling meansbetween the carriage and the frame is tension spring means which hasessentially linear characteristics within the range of movement of thecarriage relative to the support frame.
 3. The card feed mechanism ofclaim 2 in which the drive means is a motor mounted on the carriage withsuitable coupling between the motor shaft and the feed means and themeans controlling the drive means is switch means.
 4. The card feedmechanism of claim 3 in which the coupling means between the motor andthe feed means consists of a nutlike element supported on the feed meanshaving threads which engage a helically threaded shaft coupled to themotor shaft connected to the motor.
 5. The card feed mechanism of claim4 in which the threaded nutlike element only partially surrounds and iscapable of being laterally withdrawn from the threaded shaft todisengage the feed means from the carriage to permit repositioning ofthe feed means relative to the carriage by means othEr than the drivemeans.
 6. The card feed mechanism of claim 5 in which a manuallyactuated mechanism on the feed means laterally withdrawn the nutlikeelement to permit the feed means to be manually repositioned relative tothe carriage.
 7. A card feed mechanism for sequentially feedingindividual cards from a stack into a conveyor, including card pickoffmeans, comprising a support frame supporting the conveyor and providinga generally planar support deck oriented to have a substantiallyvertical component; carriage means, including a support shelf forretaining a stack of cards on edge, supported on said frame forgenerally horizontal movement along a predetermined path toward and awayfrom the card pickoff means; coupling means between the carriage and theframe, including tension spring means, urging the carriage toward thepickoff means with essentially constant force; feed means on and movablerelative to the carriage generally parallel to the direction of carriagemovement relative to the frame, including a feed arm for bearing againstthe last card of a stack, for maintaining the stack of cards on edge onthe shelf of the carriage means and for urging the stack of cards intothe card pickoff means; motor means on the carriage coupled to the feedmeans for driving the feed means toward the card pickoff means so thatthe feed arm of the feed means maintains pressure on a stack of cardsurging them into the card pickoff means and, after such pressure hasbeen applied to the cards, driving the carriage away from the cardpickoff means; means sensing the relative position of the carriage andthe frame; and switch means in circuit with the motor means, controlledby the sensing means to deenergize the motor whenever the carriage movesa predetermined distance away from the card pickoff means.
 8. The cardfeed mechanism of claim 7 in which the sensing means is a cam positionedto close the contacts of the switch means in a predetermined position ofthe carriage relative to the frame.